â€™ve got an admission to make: I am a nerd. Not necessarily a classic nerd with taped glasses and a fascination with “Star Trek.” But the kind who gets hooked on things like … FarmVille. Yes, that FarmVille. Sometime during the day, every day, I log on to my Facebook page and slop my pigs, milk my cows and harvest my crops. Iâ€™m hooked and I admit it. Like Phillip Morris did 20 years ago, FarmVille’s creators (Zynga) have done a great job of establishing and feeding my addiction. They continually invent new ways to keep me and 56 million(!) other fans interested and engaged by adding new crops, introducing new animals and creating features that entice us to log on and play frequently.

The other day I checked out Sony Ericssonâ€™s latest viral effort supporting its new Xperia X10 smart phone: a series of “fauxcus” groups led by the most condescending (and brilliantly funny) moderator ever. And as I watched him slyly berate his subjects through snide comments and â€œyou couldnâ€™t be more stupidâ€ facial expressions, I found myself laughing hysterically.

Annoyed. Thatâ€™s the only word to describe my state of mind over Dominoâ€™s ridiculous â€œShow Us Your Pizzaâ€ campaign, which brazenly asks customers take pictures of delivery pizzas after they arrive. For real … take a picture of my pizza? Youâ€™re really asking me to power up my little Canon and create a memory with my thin crust pepperoni? Itâ€™s just crazy talk.

Ever thought about the packaging, labels and logos on the food you buy? If youâ€™re in any sort of marketing discipline, then no doubt youâ€™ve given it at least an ounce of consideration. Brands are constantly trying to out-shout each other to get consumers to take notice (and buy) with claims of better taste, bigger sizes, etc. But recently, everybodyâ€™s favorite banana brand came up with a very clever approach.